Smart among the winners at British Press Awards

THE Scots editor of The Sun’s showbiz column, Bizarre, has been named a winner at the British Press Awards.

Gordon Smart took the Showbiz Reporter of the Year title during a ceremony last night that saw The Times named Newspaper of the Year, not least because of its reporting of tax avoidance by well-known celebrities.

Say the organisers: “Alexi Mostrous and Fay Schlesinger’s delve into complex schemes used by celebrities to shield their earnings from the taxman was described by the judges as ‘a cracking expose that had massive ramifications. Not only did it shock and anger the public it set the public agenda’.”

While the investigation won Mostrous the News Reporter of the Year award, it also earned the paper the Scoop of the Year and News Team of the Year honours.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Times actually picked up the most titles during the evening, winning five prizes, including for chief sports reporter, David Walsh, who had conducted an investigation lasting 14 years into now shamed road cyclist, Lance Armstrong.

The judges described last year for Walsh as “the culmination of a great sports story. Not only did he stick to his guns, he left everyone else in his wake”.

The Sunday Post was nominated for the The Cudlipp Award, in honour of campaigns and investigations in any UK national newspaper.

Read more, here.

The winners’ list reads:

Young Journalist of the Year

Winner Andrew Dagnell, Sunday Mirror

Highly Commended Joshi Herrmann, London Evening Standard

Business and Finance Journalist of the Year

Winner Tom Bergin, Thomson Reuters

Highly Commended Graeme Wearden, The Guardian

Political Journalist of the Year

Winner Simon Walters, The Mail on Sunday

Highly Commended Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail

Foreign Reporter of the Year

Winner Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times

Highly Commended Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Guardian

David Blair, The Daily Telegraph

Showbiz Reporter of the Year

Winner Gordon Smart, The Sun

Highly Commended Mark Jefferies, Daily Mirror

Sports Journalist of the Year

Winner David Walsh, The Sunday Times

Highly Commended Richard Williams, The Guardian

Specialist Journalist of the Year

Winner Sean Rayment, The Sunday Telegraph

Highly Commended Robert Verkaik, The Mail on Sunday

Feature Writer of the Year

Winner David James Smith, The Sunday Times

Highly Commended Elizabeth Day, The Observer

Feature Writer of the Year

Winner Andrew Malone, Daily Mail

Highly Commended David Rose, The Mail on Sunday

Interviewer of the Year

Winner Lynn Barber, The Sunday Times

Highly Commended Decca Aitkenhead, The Guardian

Interviewer of the Year

Winner Nick Curtis, London Evening Standard

Highly Commended Jenny Johnston, Daily Mail

Columnist of the Year

Winner Peter Oborne, The Daily Telegraph

Highly Commended David Aaronovitch, The Times

Columnist of the Year

Winner Jane Moore, The Sun

Highly Commended Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail

Critic of the Year

Winner Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday

Highly Commended AA Gill, The Sunday Times

Photographer of the Year

Winner Phil Noble, Reuters

Highly Commended Tom Pilston, The Times

Sports Photographer of the Year

Winner Andy Hooper, Daily Mail

Highly Commended Mark Pain, The Mail on Sunday

Cartoonist of the Year

Winner Dave Brown, The Independent

Highly Commended Matt Pritchett, The Daily Telegraph

Supplement of the Year

Winner Observer Food Monthly, The Observer

The Digital Award

Winner Mail Online

Highly Commended Guardian Interactive

The Best of Humour Award

Winner Craig Brown, Daily Mail

Highly Commended Giles Coren, The Times

Scoop of the Year

Winner ‘The Tax Avoiders’ – Alexi Mostrous and Fay Schlesinger, The Times

Highly Commended ‘Foster couple lose children for being members of UKIP’ – Sam Marsden, The Daily Telegraph

Front Page of the Year

Winner ‘History Man’, The Sunday Telegraph

Highly Commended ‘Look at all those people’, Daily Mirror

News Reporter of the Year

Winner Alexi Mostrous, The Times

Highly Commended Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert, The Sunday Times

David Walsh, The Sunday Times

The Cudlipp Award

Winner Daily Mirror, ‘Hillsborough’

Highly Commended Daily Mail, ‘Gary McKinnon campaign’

Sunday Post, ‘Puzzle firm expose’

Journalists’ Charity Award

Winner Bob Satchwell, Executive Director, Society of Editors

News Team of the Year

Winner The Times

Sports Team of the Year

Winner The Sunday Times

Highly commended The Times

Production and Design Team of the Year

Winner London Evening Standard

Highly commended The Times

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Newspaper of the Year

The Times